Lawsuit: Teachers set up girl for abuse

Tuesday

Oct 4, 2011 at 12:01 AM

STOCKTON - Aspire Public Schools and two teachers from one of the well-regarded charter school company's Stockton campuses have been named in a child sexual abuse civil lawsuit filed late last month by a mother on behalf of her 12-year-old daughter.

Roger Phillips

STOCKTON - Aspire Public Schools and two teachers from one of the well-regarded charter school company's Stockton campuses have been named in a child sexual abuse civil lawsuit filed late last month by a mother on behalf of her 12-year-old daughter.

The suit seeks unspecified damages in excess of $25,000 against Aspire and the teachers, identified as Michael Hartsock and Michael Merritt.

Hartsock allegedly molested the girl, and Merritt is said to have helped facilitate the abuse. Aspire is alleged in court documents to have been negligent in hiring and supervising Hartsock.

An Aspire spokesperson declined to answer when asked if the teachers - who worked at Benjamin Holt College Preparatory Academy in north Stockton - are still employed by Aspire. Benjamin Holt, which serves sixth- through 12th-graders, is among the best schools in San Joaquin County based on state standardized test scores.

In a statement, the Aspire spokesperson said, "All Ben Holt faculty and staff are committed to ensuring that our school is a safe and secure environment for all students and families. The health, safety and well-being of our students is our No. 1 priority. Due to ongoing litigation we cannot comment any further."

Trenton Diehl, the Lodi-based attorney for the victim's family, was out of the office Monday and unavailable for comment.

According to court documents, the victim was an 11-year-old student at Benjamin Holt when the crimes allegedly occurred from August to December 2010. Benjamin Holt is chartered through Lodi Unified.

Hartsock, an art teacher, was arrested earlier this year on six felony counts of contact with a minor for sexual offense and is out on bail. According to the lawsuit, Hartsock left the area after posting bail. He is due back in court in November, and a case-management conference on the civil case is scheduled for late January.

The lawsuit says Hartsock "systematically and methodically 'groomed' " the victim for sexual molestation. He is alleged to have arranged with Merritt, a physical-education teacher, to keep the victim alone with Hartsock when she was supposed to be in Merritt's physical-education class.

The suit says Merritt gave the victim an A-plus even though she seldom attended physical education class, and wrote on the girl's report card that she was a "delight" to have in class.

Hartsock is alleged to have touched the girl inappropriately last fall. He also is alleged to have taken the girl off school grounds multiple times without parental or school permission and to have sent the girl text messages that included the words "I love you."

Aspire's culpability, according to the lawsuit, is that it "knew or should have known of Hartsock's pedophilic tendencies, or of Hartsock's incompetence to responsibly supervise children." The suit said the girl has been "irreparably harmed" and has experienced "significant mental and emotional traumas" and is receiving ongoing mental-health rehabilitation.